Eco-friendlier retirement board; cleaner Dolores Park

Putting its money where its priorities are, the San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System board voted Wednesday to invest $100 million in environmentally friendly funds.

It’s the first time a U.S. pension fund has invested its money in a fossil-fuel-free index, said Brett Fleishman, senior analyst at 350.org, a climate-focused advocacy group.

“It’s precedent-setting. It shows that these extremely slow-moving and conservative institutions — pension funds — are starting to explore the risks of fossil fuels and the possibilities of leaving those investments,” Fleishman said.

The San Francisco retirement board voted 6-1 in favor of the investment, with Herb Meiberger opposed.

The vote comes as the board is weighing another potentially precedent-setting decision: whether to divest the more than $540 million it holds in fossil-fuel companies.

If the board ultimately takes that step — which, likely, is still at least a year away — San Francisco would become the first city to refuse to invest in funds that include fossil-fuel stocks.

— Emily Green

Cleaning up: Just when you get discouraged by the lack of consideration and thoughtfulness of San Franciscans, someone steps up and reminds you what a great city this is.

The weekend trash mess at Dolores Park was starting to seem like no-win situation. Partiers packed the park but failed to pack up their garbage. They complained that the trash cans were full, and critics sneered that if they could bring in their craft beer bottles and trendy pizzas, they could carry them back out. There was even a video of a nasty confrontation between a park ranger and some rude park users.

But into the breach stepped Dolores Park regular Andrew Rogers. With his friend Gus Preston, he formed the Friends of Dolores Park. Last Saturday, they showed up with 500 flyers, encouraging trash pickup and good behavior, and more than 100 trash bags.

The intent was to make it “stupid easy to throw away garbage,” Rogers wrote.

This week, Rogers wrote to say the event was “a resounding success.” He says the group is up to 200 members, the park was virtually clean by 7 p.m., and Supervisor Scott Wiener has promised to stop by Saturday for round two.

Cleanup begins at 3 p.m. Just look for the guys with the noticeable glow of civic pride.